


Worth

by Rin_the_Shadow



Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers: Cybertron
Genre: Bonus Scene, Canon Compliant, Cross-Generational Friendship, Friendship, Gen, No shipping, Speed Planet Arc, Takes place during the episode "Hero", clocker is a good bro, hot shot is a good bro, landmine is a badass papa wolf, landmine is a good bro, mentoring, reassurance, rebuilding of confidence, red alert is the team mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-06 03:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16380521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rin_the_Shadow/pseuds/Rin_the_Shadow
Summary: Extension of the scene near the end of "Hero."Hot Shot promised Clocker he'd never give up, but it's not that easy to rebuild shattered confidence. Landmine kinda figures it'll be that way, and goes to check up on the kid.





	Worth

“Listen, you’re my hero, so I’ll _never_ give up on you, Hot Shot. But that means that _you_ can’t give up on me either, no matter what.”

That’s right. The kid still needed him, still looked up to him after all he’d bungled everything.

“I’ll never give up, Clocker. I promise.” He just hoped he could live up to his promise.

They stayed out for a bit longer after that, mostly walking around. He’d started to feel the sting of some of his repairs setting in. Yeesh, he’d really done a number on himself, hadn’t he? But with Red Alert’s handiwork, you could hardly tell just how much he’d been patched back together.

He sighed as he remembered how he’d snapped at the medic earlier. He needed to apologize for that, especially since he’d kept his secret for him up until he’d injured himself too much and he absolutely _had_ to call Optimus. He'd been looking out for the youth more than  _he'd_ been looking out for himself.

Clocker had been quiet up until that point, but he caught the sigh. “You okay?”

“Huh?” Hot Shot shook himself. “Yeah, just stings a little.”

The kid’s eyes widened. “Does that mean something’s wrong? Should I go get Brakedown or Red Alert?”

“No,” he waved him off. “That’s just something that happens sometimes when a ‘bot’s recovering. Usually doesn’t mean anything’s wrong unless…”

“Unless?” Sheesh, you couldn’t get anything past this kid, could you? He’d have to be careful not to say anything Brakedown wouldn’t want him hearing.

“Well, I mean, if something shifts or you suddenly can’t walk. Usually it’s pretty obvious if something’s wrong.”

“Oh.” Thankfully, Clocker didn’t press it any further.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I used to get pretty freaked out myself,” he offered. “But I probably should head back. Red Alert worries…”

They turned and started back, Clocker pausing to check up on him every so often. Once Brakedown’s garage was in sight, they noticed a familiar face heading towards them. Landmine.

Clocker immediately went into defense mode. “You’ve got some nerve! What do you want now?” he snapped.

“Clocker!” Hot Shot started at the amount of fire in his words. Sure, Landmine had been harsh earlier, but still. “That’s not—”

“Heh,” Landmine chuckled, shaking his head. “Can’t really say that I blame ‘im. Glad you had him lookin’ out for you, though.” Then he turned to the younger ‘bot. “Hey, look, I know things ain’t the best between us right now, but would you mind giving me a minute alone with the kid?”

Clocker stood stiff, vehemently shaking his head. Hot Shot guessed he understood a little. His first impression of Landmine had been a tough guy who wasted no time mincing words. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what to expect himself right now, and that made him more than a little nervous.

Still, he forced himself to speak evenly. “It’s okay, Clocker.”

“I’ll only keep ‘im for a minute,” the old warrior promised him. Clocker took a few steps away, but didn’t completely enter the garage.

Hot Shot shook his head, much to Landmine’s amusement. “Heh, reminds me of a kid I knew not too long ago.”

“Look, I know you didn’t come out here to reminisce, so whatever you have to say, just go on and say it.” It wasn’t the most tactful he’d ever been. But he knew he couldn’t just build everything back up with one pep-talk and he really wasn’t in the mood to play any kind of waiting game, not with his pressure gage threatening to pop a fuel cell. “But if I’m going back to Earth, at least let me say goodbye to Brakedown and—”

“Woah, slow down there, kid,” Landmine held up his hands. “You’re not gettin’ shipped back to Earth. Actually, I came here to see how you were holdin’ up.”

“Huh?” He was pretty sure whatever Landmine just said made more sense than that.

He nodded in understanding. “You okay to walk with me a bit? Noticed you limping a bit earlier. I don’t want to push you if you’re gonna tear yourself up more.”

Hot Shot winced at the reminder, not that he’d really forgotten so soon. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay, kid. Let me know if anything feels off, you got it?” Landmine started walking, and Hot Shot fell into a familiar step behind him, one back, two to the left. The older ‘bot waved him up. “C’mon, kid, I’m not giving orders right now.”

He stepped forward a bit. “I got a little of what happened from Red Alert,” Landmine started. “Not much, mind. He said most of it was up to you to spill or not.” Hot Shot couldn’t really imagine Red Alert actually using the word “spill” in a real sentence. “But I think I get it a bit better.”

Hot Shot didn’t have long to think about what he meant by that, because Landmine stopped abruptly. “You know your worth don’t come from your speed, right?”

The younger Autobot stopped dead in his tracks. How was he supposed to answer that?

But apparently, that was all Landmine needed to hear. “Yeah, I figured. Y’know, I used to be a lot like you.”

Hot Shot couldn’t fully bite back the snort that escaped him.

“Yeah, hard to believe, huh? Hit a few low patches, had to ask myself what I was really doin’ here. Seemed like whatever I was good for, someone else was better, y’know?” Landmine sighed. “What I’m sayin’ is, I get it. May not’a sounded like it earlier, but you know you can talk to any of us.”

“Well, I mean…I wasn’t exactly making it easy earlier,” Hot Shot rubbed at the back of his neck.

“You can say that again…” he muttered. “But that’s actually the other thing I wanted to bring up.” Great.

“How’re you holdin’ up after that? It wasn’t the best wording, but I was takin’ shots in the dark. If it had a chance of workin’ I had to take it.”

Hot Shot grinned in spite of himself. “Yeah, I think I know how that works.”

Landmine chuckled. “I’m sure you do, kid. But I had to make sure it didn’t work the other way, y’know? Push ya to think…”

The young Autobot swallowed. It wasn’t that long ago that he had. “At first, a bit, yeah. But Clocker helped me out a lot, so…”

“Yeah. Sure seemed like it. He really looks up to you, don’t he?”

“Yeah…” Hot Shot felt himself reeling a bit, like he’d swapped his cooling system for some kind of spark combustor. Clocker was a good kid, really. Just sometimes he said things that didn’t make sense or peppered him with questions he had no idea where they came from or went running off with no warning of what he was doing.

“Heh heh, you get used to that, eventually.” He turned and started back. “But you know that kid don’t value you for your speed or how many missions you get done. It’s the same with the rest of the team.”

“Right.” He was beginning to understand that, maybe a little.

Landmine nodded, patting his shoulder. “Yeah, you kinda grow that up over a bit, too.”

Clocker was waiting for them when they reached the garage. He started over, but Brakedown saw him dart forward and called him back. “We’ve got work to do, Clocker! Those boys’ll be fine for a few moments.”

Landmine almost visibly slumped in relief. It was probably only years of experience that dialed it back. Hot Shot felt a little sorry for Clocker—it wasn’t that long ago he’d been the one trailing Optimus like a magnetized sparkling, and he’d been more than happy to follow Landmine when he couldn’t find the Big Bot. But to be honest, he was a bit relieved himself. He didn’t know if he could handle a lot of questions at the moment.

“Things’ll work out,” Landmine said as Hot Shot made his way to lean against a work desk. The walk had taken more out of him than he’d expected. “Just hang in there, kid.”

Almost on cue, Red Alert materialized as if out of nowhere and was almost instantly on Landmine. “I hope you didn’t push him too much. Some of the replacements haven’t fully integrated, and it would really be better not to replace too many parts in one day, especially—"

“Hey, Landmine, Red Alert?” Hot Shot asked, not looking around. His voice was still far too small for his liking. “Thanks.”

“No problem, kid,” Landmine answered.

“Of course. You would have done the same in my place,” Red Alert replied. He was back on Landmine less than a second later, going on about how neither of them had really had a grasp of how much was overdoing it, and although he was glad to see the two of them had made up, that was still no reason to…

Hot Shot couldn’t help but suppress a chuckle. Better Landmine than him, once Red Alert had gotten into full medic mode. Yeah, it would take awhile to believe it, but things would work out. He’d be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> So my first one with my favorite character! I'm a little surprised it took me so long, actually...
> 
> While I get Landmine's intention in the scene where he uses Hot Shot's own wording to snap him out of it, as a child, I had taken it completely at face value, so it made no sense to me paired with Landmine's other interactions with him. (And I mean, I get it now, but it was still a gamble and I'm glad Landmine knew what he was doing/Clocker followed Hot Shot out) Also reading "Old Wounds, New Scars" made me realize that I really wanted a lot more interactions based around the line "he looked up to you."
> 
> In any event, let me know what you think!  
> ~Rin


End file.
